Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014 News 3
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GULF OF TONKIN
ORIGIN OF THE
BLANK CHECK
The Aug. 2 attack
photographed from
the USS Maddox.
NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND
Fifty years ago this week, an incident off the coast of North Vietnam set
the U.S. on a path toward a costly and, ultimately, unsuccessful war.
BY CHARLES APPLE
FOCUS PAGE EDITOR
JULY 1964
OPLAN 34A
DESOTO PATROLS
What some were calling the
Second Indochina War is
heating up. The U.S. had
boosted its troop presence in
1961 and again in 1962.
South Vietnamese troops are carrying out a series of
commando raids along the coast of North Vietnam, in the
Gulf of Tonkin. These raids are, in fact, planned by the
U.S. Department of Defense and supported by the CIA.
The military code name for these raids is OPLAN 34A.
At the same time, U.S. destroyers patrol the Gulf of Tonkin off
the North Vietnamese coast, monitoring the attacks and
collecting intelligence. These types of surveillance missions —
the Navy calls them DeSoto patrols — are common along the
coast of Vietnam, North Korea, China and Russia.
AUG. 2, 1964
AUG. 4, 1964
AUG. 7, 1964
SHOTS
FIRED
A PHANTOM
ATTACK
A POLITICAL
RESPONSE
The destroyer USS Maddox, below, is monitoring one of the OPLAN 34A attacks when three
small North Vietnamese patrol boats appear,
closing rapidly. The Maddox fires a warning
shot, but the patrol boats launch torpedoes at
the Maddox.
In the middle of a driving rainstorm with reduced
visibility and 6-foot swells, the Maddox reports it’s
under attack again. This time multiple contacts are
made from multiple vectors. The Maddox and the
Turner Joy fire wildly into the night.
Johnson and his Secretary of Defense, Robert
McNamara — both in Washington, D.C. — spring
into action. They ask Congress for permission
to defend the U.S. forces in Southeast Asia.
Except there turned out to be no attack. Capt. John
Herrick of the Maddox notes the lack of torpedo
wakes and begins to suspect the sonar and radar
contacts are caused by wave crests and overeager
operators. He radios his doubts to his superiors:
“No actual visual sightings ... suggest complete
evaluation before any further action taken.”
Also, F-8 jets from the Ticonderoga are scrambled
again to repel the attack. Cmdr. James Stockdale
reported later, “Our destroyers were just shooting
at phantom targets ... there was nothing there but
black water and American firepower.”
The Maddox easily avoids the attack and
begins firing on the patrol boats. In addition,
F-8 Crusader fighter jets from the aircraft
carrier USS Ticonderoga join the attack,
setting one patrol boat afire and sending the
others scurrying for shore.
Despite the disclaimers, Washington springs into
action. Stockdale is awakened the next morning to
lead an airstrike as a reprisal.
“Reprisal for what?” he responds.
President Lyndon Johnson orders a second
destroyer — the USS Turner Joy — to join the
Maddox in further patrols.
The strike on Aug. 5 destroys an oil storage facility
and sinks 30 enemy vessels. Two of the 18 attacking U.S. jets are shot down, killing one pilot. The
other is captured.
BRUSH WITH HISTORY
Commanding U.S. naval forces from his
flagship the USS Bon Homme Richard: Capt.
George Morrison. His son, Jim, would find
fame as singer of the rock group the Doors.
BRUSH WITH HISTORY
On duty that night at the Pentagon, receiving
reports from the Gulf of Tonkin: Security analyst
Daniel Ellsberg, who would later leak the Pentagon
Papers to The New York Times.
Johnson’s proposed Gulf of Tonkin resolution
sails through the House unanimously and wins
passage in the Senate, 48-2. Only Sens.
Wayne Morse, D-Ore., and Ernest Gruening,
D-Alaska, dissent. Morse tells his colleagues:
“I believe that within the next century, future
generations will look with dismay and great
disappointment upon a Congress which is now
about to make such a historic mistake.”
Johnson is gleeful at what will later be called
the “blank check” he’s been given by
Congress. He reportedly tells aides the resolution is “like Grandma’s nightshirt — It covers
everything.”
U.S. strategists feel the growing communist
influence in Vietnam will back off if faced with
a show of force. Six months later, Johnson
orders Operation Rolling Thunder, a massive
bombing campaign, and sends yet more
troops to Vietnam.
Eventually, more than 58,000 American
servicemen and women and nearly half a
million Vietnamese civilians will die before the
U.S. pulls out of the conflict 11 years later.
Congress takes back its checkbook by repealing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on June 24,
1970.
FOUR KEY PLAYERS
CAPTAIN
JOHN J. HERRICK
A veteran of World
War II (aboard the
battleship USS New
York) and the Korean
war, Herrick was in
command of Destroyer
Division 192. After the
Tonkin incident, he
was named commanding office of the naval
ammo depot in
Portsmouth, Va.
He later retired to
Santa Fe, N.M.
COMMANDER
JAMES STOCKDALE
Thirteen months later,
Stockdale ejects from his
crippled A-4E Skyhawk
and parachutes into a
Vietnamese village. He’s
severely beaten and held
prisoner for 7 1/2 years.
He’s released in 1973,
serves as president of the
Naval War College and the
Citadel in Charleston, S.C.,
and serves as Ross
Perot’s vice presidential
candidate in 1992.
Sources: U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History & Heritage Command, U.S. Department of State Office of the
Historian, the National Security Archive, the History Channel, Encyclopedia Brittanica, HistoryLink.org
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
ROBERT McNAMARA
Although tapes of
Johnson’s White House
tapes prove McNamara
deliberately distorted the
Aug. 4 incident and lied to
Congress, he never
admitted remorse or
regret. In his 2003 video
memoir, McNamara
explained, “I learned early
on never answer the
question that is asked of
you. Answer the question
that you wish had been
asked of you.”
PRESIDENT
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
As the Vietnam War
spiraled out of control in
the 1960s, so did
Johnson’s hope of
re-election. When Robert
F. Kennedy announced his
candidacy on an anti-war
platform, Johnson bowed
out of the race. He moved
back to Texas in January
1969 and died on Jan. 22,
1973. The very next day,
President Richard Nixon
announced a cease-fire
and the end of the war.